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New revenue policy has boosted Edo IGR by more than 500% – Obaseki

Edo State Governor, Mr Godwin Obaseki has revealed that his administration’s zero tolerance to waste in the civil service has boosted the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) in nine pilot locations in Oredo LGA by more than 500 percent.

The governor disclosed this at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium in Benin City during the recently celebrated annual International Workers’ Day in Edo State, where he also promised prompt and regular payment of workers’ salaries by the 26th of each month.

It would be recalled that Governor Obaseki had, in his 2017 New Year speech, outlawed the activities of non-state actors in Edo State, while promising that payment of taxes and revenue would be paid electronically.

In the interim, he granted workers in the state a tax leave until the modalities for the electronic technology, which includes e-payment, Point of Sales (POS) apparatus and purchase of tax vouchers, had been put in place.

Governor Obaseki revealed that 9 specific areas in Oredo local government area used to remit N42,000 a day prior to the implementation of the policy, but that sum had since climbed to N500,000.

He added that his administration was determined to correct the ills of the past not create new ones, and that his administration had not banned the Nigerian Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) from collecting dues and levies from its members in the State.

He explained further that the technology was being test run and the union would start collecting levies from its members via electronic payment before the end of May.

The Governor also said that promotion of workers was up to date and that he had mandated the State’s Head of Service, Mrs. Gladys Idahor to review cases of demoted Permanent Secretaries with a view to reinstating those who were punished in error.